


Unconventional

by peacehopeandrats



Series: Rumbelling Shorts [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time), A Monthly Rumbelling February 2020 (Once Upon A Time), Camping, Chicago, F/M, Family, Gen, Missing Years, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22670308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacehopeandrats/pseuds/peacehopeandrats
Summary: Inspired by the February and April Monthly Rumbellings. The Golds have left New York and begun their tour of the United States. Their next stop is Chicago, where Belle and Gideon have chosen to do something that might push Rumple's comfort zone. An eventual chapter of Growing Up.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Series: Rumbelling Shorts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630849
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So it turns out this will probably be the next work in my Growing Up series. Inspired by the central images of the Monthly Rumbelling moodboard here: https://a-monthly-rumbelling.tumblr.com/tagged/February-Prompts

Belle plucked yet another shirt from the wrack in front of her, judged it, and found it lacking. She returned the thing with a pout and huffed playfully at her son, who was babbling his opinion on the garment from the seat of their shopping cart. “I think it was easier finding the pants,” she told him cheerfully, her tone drawing one of Gideon's big smiles.

The boy reached for another cluster of shirts, pointing as he jabbered, “Puhpuh,” being one of the words that was distinguishable from the rest.

“You want to try those?” Belle pushed the cart over and examined the cloth first, her pout turning into a thoughtful frown as she went through the extensive checklist of objections that she knew her husband might have with the garment. “He might actually wear this one,” she told him, beaming proudly. “And if he resists, we'll just tell him you picked it out.”

This made Gideon laugh as if he _knew_ exactly what she was accusing him of. He was her husband's pride and joy. The man would hang by his ankles from a tree limb if his son asked him to and today Belle was counting on that. She gathered up three of the shirts, one in white, one in black, and one in a rich red color that almost matched the shade he used to wear in the Dark Castle. These were all added to the pile of clothing and various bags from other stores before Belle began to stroll away.

Gideon, however, wasn't having their departure. He frowned and pointed back in the direction of the shirts, letting out a slew of frustrated sounds that were almost words.

“We don't need any more, Gideon,” Belle explained as she pushed him along. “We only need enough for a few days.”

The argument continued, Gideon's upset beginning to turn to anger. He swatted the cart a few times and pointed behind Belle. “Puhpuh,” he almost shouted as he tried to lean forward and out of the seat.

Belle caught him and settled him back down, then turned to look at what was offending her son so deeply. Pictures of various men hung on the back wall, each in combinations of the items for sale. One of them had on a smart vest over a shirt very similar to the one they had just chosen. 

“Well...” She tipped her head to the side as she contemplated the image. “Not exactly what I had in mind, but it _might_ be just what we need to help convince him.” Belle grinned down at Gideon and pretended to tickle his belly. “Let's go look.”

Gideon clapped his hands as they made their way to the back wall and began the process of examination all over again.

* * *

Rumplestiltskin sighed with relief as he caught sight of Belle and Gideon making their way through the entrance of the clothing store that they had disappeared into an hour ago. While the Oakbrook Center was, in his opinion, far better than any of the shopping areas they had visited in New York, he had taken the grand tour of the place three times since they had parted ways and he was more than ready to get back to their hotel. 

He strode over to Belle and reached out to take Gideon as he placed a kiss on her cheek. “You know it took you longer in there than it did across the hall?” He gestured at the Barnes and Noble with a wave of his arm.

“This is different,” she teased, holding up the collection of bags that were rapidly multiplying with every store the family visited. “I _know_ what the bookstore has to offer, _this_... is all for your surprise.” She pouted. “And it wasn't an easy thing to choose.”

He chuckled as he straightened Gideon's clothing and turned a suspicious gaze at his son. “Am I going to regret letting the two of you pick the next stop in our journey?”

The boy babbled happily, gesturing wildly as he told a tale about “pans” and “shirs.”

“Pants and shirts, you say,” Rumple answered. “Wouldn't have guessed it from a men's clothing store.” He grinned and turned back to Belle. “Are we ready to head out now?”

“I think so,” she said with a shrug. “We can always come back tomorrow if you decide we need something else before we leave.”

Rumple nodded and leaned closer to Belle, holding out a hand. “I can take some of those.”

Gideon gently swatted at his chest and let out a sharp, “nuh!”

“I'm not going to peek,” his father chastised with an exaggerated pout. “I'm trying to be the gentleman.”

“Here,” Belle said as she sorted through the items and handed over the bags from the shoe store, book store, and the one that held the new baby supplies. “No surprises there,” she teased.

Rumple shook his head at Gideon, pausing his stride to adjust the boy's weight and let his wife continue a few steps ahead. “What have I gotten myself into, son?” 

The only hint he received was his child's bubbling laugh and a repetition of “shirs” before Belle turned her head to look back over her shoulder. 

“Are you coming?” The words brought the flash of a memory: Belle standing just ahead of him in her cloak, gazing back at him after he had “missed” shooting Robin and Marion in the woods. He let out a sigh and realized that just as he had then, he would continue to follow her anywhere she asked him to go.

* * *

Their hotel was practically connected to the shopping mall, but Belle's feet ached by the time they had reached their suite. She sighed as she dropped the bags on the table by the door and reached down to remove the offensive footwear before either the shoes or her feet died a horrible death.

“I told you to wear sensible shoes,” Rumple chuckled at her as he set Gideon down and added his own bags to the pile. 

“Well, I have some now,” she huffed, pointing at the bag that held two boxes inside. “And so do you.”

Rumple frowned at her. “I needed shoes?” He looked down at the ones he was wearing as if examining them for scuffs.

“You will when you find out where we are going,” she said before dropping onto the black couch. Belle fought the smile that was spreading across her face and tipped her head to study her husband, who was obviously fighting the urge to _not_ poke around in the many bags. “I kept the receipt,” she teased as he tried to open one of the shoe boxes, the statement making him jerk back to avoid being caught. “Just in case you say no.”

He scowled, leaving the bags and crossing the distance to join her. “I agreed to give you the choice of our next destination and I intend to keep that promise,” he said as he took her hand in his own. 

Gideon laughed at them from where he sat on the floor. He had one of his stuffed animals and was waving it at them as he chattered.

Rumple smiled at his son. “What is it the two of you aren't telling me about this mystery destination?”

“Shirs!” Gideon offered the information happily.

“Yes, so I've been told,” Rumple chuckled and turned to Belle. “If I'm going to drive there, I'm afraid I'll need to know more than the fact that shirts are apparently required.”

Belle grinned and wandered to the bedroom to pick up the simple laptop they had purchased in New York, after a very convincing lecture from Lexington. She returned to the couch and settled against Rumple, then opened the lid and called up the images she had been scrolling through before their trip to the mall. 

In order to make certain he agreed, she knew it was better to show him _why_ she wanted to go where she had chosen before giving him the important details. She went for the scenery first, clicking on each image in the collection of photos, taking Rumple on a virtual tour from woodlands to open spaces and walkways along a river. When it was over, she blinked up at him nervously, biting her lip as she tried to gauge his reaction.

Rumple hummed as he inspected the screen for himself, clicking on a few of the images a second time. She could tell he was trying to work out what their catch would be. “It's a beautiful park,” he told her finally in a tone that said he suspected “park” wasn't the right word. “I'd be happy to take you and Gideon, but I don't see how that inspired today's shopping spree.”

“It's a sort of nature preserve and we're um... camping.” Belle finally dropped the news. 

“Camping,” Rumple said flatly, his expression blank. “As in, tent and-”

Belle's hands busily worked at the computer, calling up the image of the location she had chosen. “Oh no, I reserved us a cabin,” she said quickly. “It's simple and it's meant for 10, but it has a private bath. I thought you'd prefer that to communal facilities. And with a cabin we can come and go as we want, leave for the city and come back at night...” She sighed when she realized that Rumple had remained silent, studying the image of the simple building and the accompanying layout of the cabin's interior. The adult's bedroom had two single beds and the common room had eight bunks. It was far from luxurious and they would be very out of place in it, but she knew their chances of getting Rumplestiltskin into a tent were slim to none. “I know it isn't what we're used to, but I thought Gideon would enjoy a week exploring the outdoors.”

“Well,” Rumple said with a smile. “That _does_ explain the bags on the table.” He looked up into Belle's eyes and raised his hand to caress her cheek. “Sweetheart, I promised I would take you wherever you wanted to go. If this is where you want to spend our time in Chicago, then this is where we will stay.”

Gideon suddenly clapped his hands and scrambled over, laughing as he clutched at his father's pants and chanted his word for park, which was much like his word for Papa. “Shirs!” The word was thrown in at the end as an afterthought.

“Should I go try them on?” Rumple lifted his son for a brief cuddle before setting him down again and meeting Belle's gaze.

“Yeh! Shirs!”

“Gideon was very insistent on some of the things we chose for you,” Belle explained with a smile. “He even picked out a few himself.”

“Did he now?” Rumple stood and went over to the bags, collecting the ones from the men's clothing store and holding them up for display. “Then I'd best go see what I have here.” He moved to the bedroom and Belle could hear the paper rustling as he reached in before a disgruntled, “you're joking,” followed.

She giggled. “Camping, Rumple,” she called through to the other room. “Are you really going to spend a week hiking and bent over a campfire in one of your suits?”

Gideon made his way to the bedroom's doorway and clapped when he saw his father holding up the items they had fussed over for so long. “Pans!”

“Yes,” Rumple grudgingly admitted. “I suppose you're right.” There was more rustling and then an amused chuckle. “I suppose when you add the vest it might be bearable after all.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually inspired by April's Monthly Rumbelling prompt here:  
> https://a-monthly-rumbelling.tumblr.com/post/614265702485049344/prompts-for-april

“Turn here.” Belle glanced up from her map just long enough to point down the road before turning the paper to properly read the text. “We want…” Her breath caught and she suddenly broke into laughter.

Rumple shot her a sideways glance as he slowed the car. “Something funny?”

“Quentin Road.”

He almost forgot he was driving and had to shake his head to bring himself to reality. What were the odds of the road’s name being the same as the main character from the book Gideon was reading before he was returned to them? Rumple smiled once he realized she had to be joking. “You’re pulling my leg,” he told her through a chuckle. “Really, which road?”

Belle pointed again as the car came up to their turn. “Quentin Road,” she repeated. “I told you.”

Behind them, Gideon babbled away, completely unaware of the significance of his parents’ discovery, or that it was a discovery at all.

“Shame he’s not old enough to appreciate it,” Rumple mused as he made the turn.

“We can tell him when he’s older,” Belle said, then tipped her chin up as a means of pointing while trying to fold the map. “It’s just there. See the sign?”

Rumple nodded and slowed the car when he noticed the small red sign surrounded by artfully stacked white bricks. It was set further from the road than he expected, but the white campfire image over large letters that spelled out “camping” in all capitals was a noticeable enough marker for their destination. Beyond the drive stood a large building made of reddish wood planks that were just the right color to seem purple in the shade. As they pulled up to it, he eyed Belle suspiciously.

“I had _no_ idea,” she swore. When he narrowed his gaze she put her hand in the air. “I _promise_.”

He huffed playfully and raised his voice so that it would reach Gideon in the back. “You see that, son? I’m not the one who chose something purple this time.”

“It isn’t purple!” Belle’s playful cry filled the car, making both father and son laugh, though Gideon was only copying his papa. “Oh, is _every_ color going to be purple now because of something I said in New York?”

Rumple lifted a hand from the steering wheel and gestured at the building. “The answer to that, sweetheart, is a resounding yes.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed, then pointed at the building. “Well, the office is in there. So is the store.”

The car pulled up to the outside and Rumple cut the engine. “I’ll go check in,” he told her. “Anything I need to tell them?”

“We reserved cabin 4”, she said. “It’s for eight people. They were curious when I made the reservation, but I told them we needed the space. So, if they try and change that, please don’t let them. We also get one free bundle of firewood. So make sure you get that.”

Rumple scoffed. “We’re not going to live for a week on one bundle.”

“We only need it for cooking,” Belle reminded him. “The cabin has heat and air and if we do run out of wood for cooking, we buy more from the office.”

He nodded and left the car to go inside. “One purple cabin, coming up.”

* * *

Gideon squealed with delight when his mother picked him up from his seat and he could see the big yard. His papa had a key and when Papa had a key it meant they took their bags inside somewhere and stayed. 

“Wait, Gideon,” his mother told him as she held him at her side. He didn’t want to wait. This was a place to run and play. 

He pointed and told her all about his reasons, how there was a “yar” and that he wanted to “rummm.”

“No running yet, Gideon,” his papa said as he lifted several bags from the car. 

His parents talked as they took him and the bags down a very wiggly path through the yard, they passed some tiny houses before turning to a bigger one that was by itself, with a lot of grass around it and a round circle of rocks on the ground.

The house had a tiny porch with two long chairs and glass on the door that Gideon tried to peek into. He had to press his face to it so that he could see past himself and he heard a “bonk” as his head made contact.

“Oh goodness.” His mother reached up to rub his head and kept saying the word wait as his father opened the door to let them in.

Once inside, Gideon squirmed to be let go and his mother had no choice but to put him down. She stayed by the door as he ran down a short, fat hall, and into a big room full of beds. He hurried from one bed to another, staring at them. He had never seen beds stacked like blocks before. He frowned and looked back as his parents.

“Behs?” 

His mother’s mouth made a line. “Beds.” She said certainly. “ A lot of them.”

“Yeh,” Gideon agreed.

He watched his father come in the house and he followed him to a small room near the door. In it were more beds. That’s where his father put the bags.

“Our room,” his papa told him as he looked around. He talked for a little while to his mother who was somewhere else in the house and then whispered down to Gideon like he was telling a secret. “Too many beds for your Mum and Papa.”

Gideon agreed, even if he didn’t understand what the secret was. “Sssh,” he promised, then hurried to investigate the rest of the tiny house.

Across from his papa’s room, he found a strange bathroom that had a sink even though there were sinks in the hall. When his mother returned with more bags, he showed her that too and then they went on an explore of the whole house together. By the time his father had brought the last of their things inside Gideon and his mother had tried out every bed in the house to decide which one was his.

“This one,” his mother told his father, pointing at the one they had chosen. It was in the the corner of the big room, where he could see their room when he woke up.

Gideon leaned close and whispered at his mother that “Papa” said there were “ooo” many “behs” in “Muh and Puh roo.”

His papa laughed and called him Snow White, which didn’t make any sense.

“Gibben,” he huffed back.

His mother scooped him up and held him close. “Yes, you’re Gideon,” she told him and smiled. “And I bet you’re hungry.”

* * *

Unpacking and getting settled in wasn’t an easy thing to do in a structure that intended you to live out of your suitcases, but Belle and Rumple made the best of what space they had, hanging clothes on the edges of spare bed frames and leaving the folded ones on whatever surfaces would hold them. Rumple had left Belle to most of it so that he could begin the fire for their evening meal and it hadn’t taken long before she and Gideon could hear the crackle and pop of the wood as it was licked by the hot flames. Gideon had been fascinated, watching from the window of his parents’ bedroom, nose pressed to the glass. He’d seen fireplaces, of course, but never a fire pit, which had given Belle a little bit of concern.

When every item down to the last toothbrush had been put where she thought it should go, Belle went in their room and sat on one of the beds. “Look at your father making the fire in his suit,” she sighed and shook her head. “He’ll be complaining about that until he can get it cleaned.”

Gideon called out to his papa and knocked on the window until the man looked up and waved. 

“When we go out there, you sit or play where your father and I tell you,” Belle said, though at Gideon’s age she knew the exact meaning of the words would be lost on him. It was hearing them that was important. “The fire is hot.”

“Yeh,” Gideon repeated. “Hut.”

Belle stood up and walked with him to the cabin’s front door and around the side of the building to where Rumple was standing. “Right,” she said. “Very hot. It’s for your papa and for me. All right?”

Before Gideon could answer, Rumple scooped him up in his arms and tickled his belly. “He’ll be fine,” he assured her. “And we’ll keep an eye things, won’t we?”

Gideon bobbed his head in agreement.

“Good boy.” He handed Gideon back to Belle and nodded at the cabin. “You want me to take him in with me while I change?”

Belle moved the single, yellow Adirondack chair further from the fire and nodded at it. “He can sit there and watch. He seems more curious about what we’re doing than the fire itself.”

“He grew up with them in the house, they’re not much more interesting than a wall,” Rumple told her as he set Gideon down and ruffled his hair. “It’s the advantage of coming from a realm without power. Just another part of life.”

“I’ll shout if I need you,” Belle told him as she sorted through what they had brought. She pulled out the cooking sticks and handed them to Gideon. “You can help by holding these. Don’t let them fall.”

He took the job very seriously, grasping the sticks tightly in his hand and staring at them as if they would leap away.

Belle giggled as she prepared the meat and vegetables. They would roast over the fire today since they hadn’t had much time to prepare coals, but she had grand plans for later in the week. “You know, Gideon. I used to cook over a fire like this for your father every day,” she told him as she worked. “Something for breakfast, something for lunch, something for dinner. We had lots of pots and special ways to hang them over the fire.”

Without warning a pair of hands trailed over her arms to cover her own. She felt hot breath on her neck and a gentle kiss to her cheek. “But this is the first time I get to help,” Rumple said. “Where do you want me to start?”

“Take the vegetables for washing?” She tried to smile back at him, but he pulled away, pretending to be hurt and fell out of view.

“You see that, son… Doesn’t even trust me to cook with her.”

Belle turned to scold him and her mouth fell, eyes wide. “Wow,” she said once she had taken in the sight of him in his almost-tight jeans and black shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He had chosen a brown vest to complete the outfit, which brought out the color of the hiking boots she had bought. “I thought it would look good, but when you wouldn’t let us see in the hotel…”

“You thought it wasn’t good enough?” He chuckled and looked down at himself, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from the vest. “I admit it might grow on me after a while. I might even have returned during one of your shopping trips for a few more things.”

“Oh?” Her eyes widened playfully.

Rumple waved at the vegetables. “Well, I could give you a fashion show or wash the vegetables. The choice is yours.” He hurried to Gideon’s side and caught the sticks that the boy was beginning to forget he had charge of, then scooped him up to one hip and took the vegetables in the other hand. “Come on, Gideon. You help with this and _then_ I can help your mum. If she’ll let me.”

“Hel mum,” Gideon repeated and shook a finger at his mother, which made the adults laugh.

While her boys were away, Belle finished preparations for the meal, tended the size of the fire, and pulled out three of the bananas she had insisted on getting to be part of breakfast. She hadn’t exactly lied when she asked for them, but she did have plans for using some this evening, for Gideon’s first outdoor cooking experience. She was cutting strawberries for after the meal when the cabin door closed and an eager Gideon came running to his yellow chair, repeating his plea to help his mother.

Rumple set the washed vegetables down. “Roasting everything over the fire?” He nodded at the arrangement of food in front of them.

“”For tonight,” Belle said. “I thought it would be easier than using the pots for anything. It will take _ages_ for there to be any kind of hot coal to bury them in.”

He nodded and lifted up one of their picnic blankets, “Thought we could use this, since Gideon has the only chair.”

Belle stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered before nodding him over. 

A moment later the family was settled by the fire, each holding a cooking stick filled with meat and vegetables. Gideon had chosen to abandon the chair and use his papa as a seat instead, and Belle found herself transfixed by the sight of her growing son settled in his father’s lap, staring wide eyed at his sizzling dinner as his father helped him to turn the stick slowly one way, then the other. She wished she had the camera to capture the wonder on Gideon’s face and the love on his father’s, but didn’t know what angle she could use to properly memorialize the moment Rumple’s chin rested on Gideon’s shoulder and, heads pressed together, they each took a bite of Gideon’s first campfire-cooked meal.

Her own food was cold by the time she started eating it, she was so wrapped up in watching the two men in her life growing together. Never would she have imagined that Rumplestiltskin would be wearing jeans, sitting cross legged on a raggedy blanket by a campfire, teaching their son how to cook and eat meals that would have been every day choices for them in their own realm.

“Sweetheart?”

Belle blinked and shook her head. “Sorry. Did you say something?”

“I asked if you were all right,” Rumple said, though his smile told her he knew what was really running through her mind.

“Should have gotten the camera,” she said at last, pinching the last morsel of meat from the stick she held and popping it into her mouth.

“Mo?” Gideon reached a hand to the pile of extra skewers and wriggled his fingers.

“We ate everything,” Rumple told him, putting on a sad pout that Gideon easily copied.

“We didn’t,” Belle piped in, scrambling from her place and walking to the bench that held their things. She took a seat and began arranging the ingredients she had set aside for their surprise. The bowl of strawberries was uncovered and the three bananas revealed, then, with as much mystery as she could manage, she lifted two still packed grocery bags that contained circular and rectangular shapes of varying sizes and grinned over her shoulder. “Coming?”

Rumple eyed her with suspicion and whispered into his son’s ear. “I think your mother has a surprise, Gideon.”

“’Rise!” Gideon clapped his hands with delight and bounced up and down on his papa until Rumple let out an oof of discomfort and moved the boy to stand beside him.

Belle managed to pull cooking parchment and foil from one bag before Gideon had dashed to her side and was rummaging in the other.

The bench shifted as Rumple lifted the boy to stand on the seat. Holding his son close against his body for the sake of safety as well as to provide balance, Rumple called out each item as Gideon set it out before them. “Chocolate chips, nuts, peanut butter…What in all the realms does your mother have planned for us, son?”

Gideon proudly held up the chocolate. “Serts.”

“Yes, dessert,” Belle told him as she put down a sheet of cooking parchment and placed a banana on top of it.. “And _you_ are going to make it.”

The boy’s eyes went wide and he wriggled with excitement in his father’s arms.

“You do remember we’re camping,” Rumple teased Belle as he bent to kiss the top of her head.

“I know what I’m doing,” she insisted playfully. She set each banana on its own sheet of parchment and made easy slices down their centers before pulling them open to leave them looking like a strange form of hot dog in a bun. Belle kept one for herself and nudged the other two closer to Gideon. “Now, we each get one,” she instructed. “And you take the things you like most and you stuff them inside. Like this.”

Carefully, Belle picked some of the sliced strawberries and tucked them between the peel and the long pale fruit, then added some to the center cut, stuffing the banana itself. She decided on chocolate next and added a handful of chips, then a tiny sprinkling of nuts, thinking she might want a little crunch. She kept an eye on Gideon and Rumple beside her as she worked, and noticed Gideon put nuts and chocolate into his banana, smashing tiny handfuls in it with a child’s singular disinterest in being delicate. Her husband, on the other hand, was carefully spreading peanut butter in the center of his, and topping it with a few chocolate chips.

She grinned when everyone was finished and helped Gideon to wrap his banana in the parchment, then again in a piece of aluminum foil. “There,” she said finally. “All done.”

Gideon pouted at the bananas, then looked up at her. “Eas?”

Belle laughed and lifted him from the table. “We cook them first,” she told him with a tap to his nose. “So the things inside get all warm and melty.”

“Actually,” Rumple said with surprise. “That sounds very good.” He picked up the three silver wraps and nodded at the dying fire. “Just put them in the coals?”

She nodded. “And I thought, while we wait…” She reached out to tickle Gideon, then dashed away. 

“Gih! Gih!” Gideon hurried after her, arms outstretched in an attempt to catch her. Belle froze in place, then darted left in a pretend attempt to escape her child’s hand. She avoided him the same way twice, then let him wrap himself around her leg.

“Oh, he got me.” Belle pouted over at Rumple, who had been watching the whole thing from his place by the fire.

“Only one thing for it,” he said. He kept his expression blank as he stepped from the ring and into the open grass. Belle watched the brown in his eyes shift from expressionless to devilish in an instant as his mouth turned up sharply into a wicked grin. “My turn.”

With a yelp of playful surprise, Belle scooped up Gideon and took off running.

* *

The bananas were warm and sweet and delicious. Rumple’s combination had stuck a little to the roof of his mouth, but he had to admit that the slow baked goodness of them had been the perfect ending to their simple meal. Gideon, of course, ended up covered in chocolate from head to toe, but the sparkle in the boy’s eyes made any mess worth struggle it would be to clean him up again. 

After another game of tag was played so the adults could take turns minding the cooling embers, Belle took Gideon inside to get cleaned up and changed for bed. Rumple tried to catch little snips of conversation between them as he brought everything in for cleaning and storage, but mostly heard only their laughter, which lightened his heart more than any words could. They’d had fun in New York, but this was the first time they were truly in a place of their own, just a couple with their child where no one else knew them, and public as it was, he intended to take advantage of every minute of it. 

By the time Belle and Gideon emerged from the bath, darkness was starting to fall. “My turn for a surprise,” Rumple called out to them from the doorway and he watched Belle’s eyes light up as if he had just given her the world. “I left something out here,” he added, nodding in the direction of the fire ring.

With only a hint of suspicion, Belle followed him to a spot in the grass, where one of the picnic blankets was spread open. He held up another to Belle, who was almost as wet as if she’d had a bath herself, and gave a tender smile. “In case we get cold,” he whispered, gesturing with it to Gideon as an offer to swap.

Belle tipped her head but passed the boy over and watched as Rumple set Gideon in the center of the spread blanket, then sat down beside him.

Gideon’s eyes were everywhere, head spinning one way, then another as he babbled unhappily into the settling darkness. It took a moment, but Rumple eventually realized that once more his most thoughtful gesture had been a mistake. “He’s looking for the Gargoyles,” he sighed sadly as his heart clenched in his chest. “I shouldn’t have done this tonight. It’s too soon. He’ll be heartbroken.”

Belle reached down to put a hand on his shoulder. “He would look for them anyway. You can’t protect him from everything that disappoints him, Rumple,” she reminded him as she ran her fingers through his lengthening hair and placed a kiss to the top of his head. “Besides, this is the perfect way to make nights happy without Gargoyles. It’s a good thing, just keep going.”

Carefully Rumple pulled Gideon into his lap and reached up a thumb to wipe away the boy’s tears. “Gideon,” he whispered tenderly. “We can’t have Lexington any more for a while. We said goodbye, remember?” He felt a tear fall down his own cheek at his son’s distress and held him close. “We’ll go back, son. I promise. But we still have fun things to do for you mum tonight. Think we can do that?”

The boy nodded his head sadly, but kept looking around, not ready to give up hope.

Rumple gave him another squeeze, then stretched out on the blanket and patted the space beside him. “Can I show you my surprise?” He fought his anxieties over Gideon’s distress and tried to ignore the sensation of being watched by Belle, but could only push both feelings away by looking back on the part of himself that he was leaving behind. 

Thanks to Belle’s reassurance, he could feel the quivering coward relax into a state of acceptance. The night wasn’t ruined and their time under the stars could turn into something beautiful, if he simply gave it the chance. Rumple had been that coward for so long that he had almost forgotten what it was like to be the strong boy, pushing forward through heartache because it was all he knew how to do. Power had driven the coward away and then the stuffy Mister Gold in his pristine suits had been all that he had known for years. Now, the part of him that was casual Gideon’s Papa sprawled on the ground felt almost as if he had chosen to wander naked through the streets at noon, exposed for all to see, but as he experienced the moment for what it really was, he realized the vulnerability wasn’t an unpleasant one. He even found himself admitting that the new clothes and semi-rustic setting were beginning to grow on him. 

He shifted on the ground, one arm behind his head, the other outstretched to his son. “Come here, Gideon,” he called softly as he waved the boy over, hoping he could relieve his son’s disappointment with this single gesture.

Gideon scooted himself close and eyed his papa warily, then tried to copy his position, one arm behind his head, one stretched out to wave awkwardly at his mother. “Muh,” he said softly, lifting the mood enough to make both parents chuckle.

As Rumple settled Gideon to his side, Belle came to join them, covering everyone with the blanket she held before resting her head on the ground. Rumple smiled over at her, then pointed up into the sky. “Do you see all those stars, Gideon?”

The boy nodded against his father’s chest.

“If we wait long enough,” Rumple said. “We might see a falling star.”

“Way?” A frown crossed Gideon’s face. Waiting wasn’t his favorite thing. Of course Rumple knew it wasn’t the favorite way for any child to pass the time and he’d been prepared for that.

“I thought we could tell your story out here tonight.” He looked from Gideon to Belle. “If your Mum thought it was a good idea.”

Beside him, Belle melted. “It’s a beautiful idea,” she whispered as she moved closer. “Should we do one of mine, and then one of yours?”

“Yeh,” Gideon mocked their whispers as his head tipped from one parent to the other.

Belle moved closer so that Gideon was settled firmly between them and began to recite one of his favorite bedtime stories from memory. Rumple listened as he stared into the vast darkness. He felt the weight of his son by his side and heard the melodic tones of his wife’s voice drift into the night air as if they were wisps of magic. Gifts like this had been taken from his childhood, opportunities to be a boy lost to a drunken father and the hard work of a young man trying to repay the kindness of the two older women who cared for him. There had been some of these peaceful times with Bae, spent playing in fields or gazing at the heavens, but the darkness of his curse had somehow twisted them into a knot of self loathing, magnifying the poverty and struggle instead of the peace and joy that had truly filled them.

Now, after carrying the addiction to power for so long, he was finally letting the darkness go, just as he had in those times with Bae, when they were laughing and happy, delaying work for just a bit of fun because deep down they _both_ had the heart of a child. Under the stars, with his family around him, Rumple felt a small part of the stuffy arrogance that was Mister Gold drift away from him as a single speck of light shot across the sky and made Gideon gasp with delight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually inspired by April's Monthly Rumbelling, prompt here:  
> https://a-monthly-rumbelling.tumblr.com/post/614265702485049344/prompts-for-april

This new word “camping” was something that Gideon decided he liked. It meant staying in a tiny building full of beds and cooking outside on a fire. It meant his mother was in light dresses and strange, flat shoes and his papa was in all his new clothes that his mother liked so much that she couldn't stop looking at them. He thought maybe Papa should share, but his papa seemed to only want to share in the middle of the night. And then it was just his shirts.

The first night Gideon got upset after bath time because it got dark and Lexington and the others didn't come to play, but his papa held him and his mother told stories under the sky and they found a star flying over their heads. After that, Gideon decided that his parents could make night fun too, so he didn’t miss Lexington so much.

But the most important thing about camping was that everyone was outside. All the time. 

The first day his parents made him a good breakfast that filled his belly all the way up. When they were done eating, everyone got on special walking shoes and put bags on their backs. Papa held out a paper with a lot of squiggly lines on it and his mother pointed to a few before they finally left the house.

That day was the best day.

They walked everywhere. They walked on a thin road that went through trees and fields of tall grass. They walked on tiny forest paths and through meadows. Sometimes they got to see water, too. While they were walking, his parents showed him some of the birds and flowers and once they saw a deer!

In the middle of the day they ate lunch that his mother packed and then they started walking again.

It wasn’t long after lunch that Gideon started to get tired and his parents had to take turns holding him on the way back to the small house.

When they woke up the second time everyone was tired, so they mostly played in the yard a lot and his mother showed him how to use the pots for cooking. She would put all the food inside and cover the pot in hot rocks from the fire, then let it sit for a long, long time.

That was the best day, too.

The next time they had dinner, Papa helped him use the pot to make a special chocolate cake. It crumbled a little when they took it out, but they covered it all over with icing to make it look nice, then covered their noses in icing to make each other look silly. His mother came outside early and was so surprised that she laughed until she fell down.

That was the best day all over again. And the most sticky.

On the day after the cake, everyone got in the car and drove away, but they left all their bags in the house, so Gideon wasn’t worried that they were really leaving. When they stopped, there was a big lake. 

Now he and Papa were in a long, skinny boat, moving around on the water, having little races with his mother, who was in the boat beside them. His mother was splashing his papa with her water stick and that was so funny that Gideon was laughing himself into the hiccups.

Camping was good. It was very, very good.

* *

It was Rumple’s idea to drive to the lake, where he planned to rent a row boat for the family to share, but when Belle caught sight of the variety of vessels scattered on the shore, she had, quite unexpectedly, grasped his arm, gazed adoringly into his eyes, and asked if he had brought them there to rent a canoe.

This was how, two hours later, he found himself in the middle of an epic battle for the possession of his own son.

“You won’t catch us so easily!” he shouted over his shoulder as he guided the canoe into a turn meant to avoid the oncoming craft.

There was a yelp from the second canoe and Rumple looked up to see Belle’s eyes wide with surprise. “Rumple! They won’t let us come back if you crash them.”

“I didn’t expect you to anticipate that little maneuver,” he huffed back, furiously trying to adjust his angle to prevent a collision. “Hold on, son.”

By now Gideon was used to this new life on the water. Forced into two canoes by the rental company’s double occupancy rule, Belle and Rumple spent the morning gliding gently along the shore, side by side, so that Gideon could see turtles and water birds and adjust to the rules about sitting, not jumping, and holding on when he moved. Hearing his father’s command now, he gripped the side tightly and babbled away before lifting one hand to point somewhere off in the distance.

“That way it is,” Rumple agreed, deftly heading in the direction his son pointed.

“I’m not letting you get away!” Belle cried after them, continuing the game Gideon seemed to be thoroughly enjoying.

Rumple slowed a little once they began to pull away and leaned forward to grin at his son. “I think we’ll have to let her catch us soon,” he said in a secretive tone. “It’s not fair to keep you all to myself. Think we should share?”

Gideon tipped his head to the side, clearly thinking. “Yeh.”

“Good boy.” Rumple grinned as he let the canoe glide along the water. He could hear the sound of Belle approaching from behind and held up his hands in playful surrender. “We decided on an exchange,” he said cheerfully, twisting in place to give Belle a winning smile as she approached in her own canoe.

With no warning, her paddle lifted from the lake, sending a cascade of water in his direction. “That’s for _letting_ me win,” she teased.

Rumple sputtered and shook his head in a futile attempt to flick the water from his body. Hair dripping, he looked over at Gideon, who was laughing so hard that he could barely breathe, then at Belle who had joined him in a fit of giggles while trying to maneuver her canoe to the side of his own. “Lost you both to madness,” he grumbled playfully as he reached out to grasp Belle’s boat and pull it toward his own. Once they were finally aligned, he looked back to Gideon and tossed his head in Belle’s direction. “Go on you, walk the plank.”

With a few adjustments to the alignment of their canoes, Belle managed to position herself even with Gideon and easily plucked him from where he sat. “All right, Gideon,” she tried to manage through her laughter as she stood him carefully between her legs until they could both calm themselves. “Where are we going now?”

“Nowhere until you’re settled,” Rumple insisted, still holding the vessels firmly together, steadying their movement as much as was possible.

Gideon was soon calmed by the soothing motion of the water beneath him and pointed the way he had before.

After getting him seated, Belle picked up her paddle and nodded to Rumple who let go. He watched the two glide easily away, then looked down at his wet shirt and the deep blue patches on his just as soaked jeans, wondering how in the world he, Rumplestiltskin of the Enchanted Forest, had ended up in such an unheard of predicament.

Ahead of him, Belle turned to look at him from over her shoulder. “Are you coming?”

 _That’s how,_ he thought to himself as an image from the past rose to his mind. Those same blue eyes, the pale green cloak of the past, and that exact smile coaxing him ever onward, across the water and into whatever future they would share together.


	4. Chapter 4

After four days of camping, hiking, canoeing and generally cavorting through the natural beauty of their tiny section of Illinois, Rumplestiltskin was finally ready to admit that the clothes Belle and Gideon had picked out were beginning to grow on him. He doubted he would ever feel truly himself in them, but they were a good quality and were far more appropriate than anything he would have chosen for the sake of his dignity. The jeans were the only part of the ensemble that he held any residual frustration towards. Tight and annoyingly revealing at times, he had fought tooth and nail against them, but Belle won in the end, insisting they weren't all too different from the leather he had worn back home. He had to admit that she had a point, and so here he was, in the middle of town, in jeans and a simple long sleeved shirt covered by a plain brown vest. He was desperate to return to their cabin, but the sight of the store around the corner quickly altered that hope, adding at least another two hours of discomfort.

“Just one minute,” Belle begged as her blue eyes gazed up at him, sparkling with delight.

“Belle, the day you spend only one minute in a bookstore of any kind is the day you are being taken to the hospital for examination.” He bent to kiss her forehead, then nuzzled into her hair, hiding his smile in it as he took in the mingled scents of her shampoo and campfire smoke. “We can go in, if you want.”

“One minute,” she insisted as she handed Gideon over and trotted to the door.

He chuckled and looked down at the boy in his arms. “How many hours do you think that means?”

Gideon held up a hand, all five fingers spread out in an open palmed wave at someone or something that had caught his eye. Though Rumple knew that it wasn't the boy's answer, he treated it as such, letting out a hearty chuckle and a broad smile. “I wouldn't say you were far off.”

The floorboards creaked when he entered, the store itself greeting them in a way that spoke of distinguished age. He wandered in and greeted the man at the register to his left with a brief nod and a simple question. “Children's section?”

The man pointed in the only direction Rumple could go. “Straight through that doorway, then right. Pardon the mess, we're doing a little remodeling.”

Rumple gave his thanks and headed that way, realizing that the place seemed much bigger on the inside than it had from the entrance. The shelves were a maze, piled high, some items in a jumble on the floor, waiting for a day when they could graduate upward to the walls. He tried to peek around a few corners to find Belle, but his wife was long lost among the volumes.

“Well, Gideon. I think you and I should go about our normal routine, hm?” After so many visits to libraries and bookstores, the family had come to an unspoken agreement about such places. Belle could browse all she wanted while Rumple and Gideon would wait for her in a place where Gideon could be most easily entertained.

The area in question had a small carpet on the floor and a few antique-ish wooden chairs strewn around, all child sized, of course. Remembering passing a rolling step stool on the way, Rumple retraced his steps and collected it to use as his own seat. It wouldn't be comfortable, but it would be better than getting half a butt cheek into something that was barely higher off the floor than his ankles.

He set Gideon down and let the boy explore for a while, helping him to reach what he wanted, occasionally reading a page or two from items he was offered and sometimes playing finding games with the pictures or the colors of book covers. The two had turned waiting in a bookstore into an exact science and Rumple let his mind wander to the future when these times would be used for schooling. He imagined a young Gideon happily searching through old bookstores for whatever topic his parents had assigned him and settling in a corner to study. Those years would be well ahead of them, Rumple knew, but the idea still brought him joy, even as he cherished the little games they played now.

When his backside was dangerously numb, Rumple stood and checked his phone for the time. “Gideon,” he said simply. “We've been sitting for an hour and fifteen mintues. Should we stretch our legs a little?”

“Nuh,” was his son's reply. He held up a book that Rumple had read twice already and bounced, a hopeful expression on his face.

“You read it first,” Rumple told him. “Let me know if it's any good.”

Since this was something Gideon often heard said, usually to his mother, he mimicked looking through pages, pointing at things and occasionally frowning with deep concern or thought. Rumple tried not to laugh, seeing many of Belle's more studious expressions on their son's face.

“Something funny?”

Rumple turned to see Belle at one of the nearby bookshelves, her arms surprisingly empty. “Just your son doing his best impersonation of his mother.” He propped one shoulder against the wall with a grin. “Didn't find _anything_ to your liking?”

“Oh no, I found _too_ much,” she told him, sighing wistfully as she gazed around the cramped space. “If I finish what I'm reading, I might come back for an exchange.”

“Excuse me.” The unfamiliar female voice that called out was casual but concerned. “I need you to get off that wall, please.”

It took a moment for Rumple to realize she was speaking to him and he almost jumped back with surprise. First it was the jeans and camping, now he was starting to lean on things with causal disregard for his surroundings. What would come next? Frolicking in nothing but swim trunks at a splash park? He shook his head, worried the image might become part of his future if he held on to it for too long.

“Sorry,” he answered quickly, glancing from his shoulder to the wall and back again. It wasn't wet with paint, but he did notice chalk scribblings, though he hadn't managed to smudge any of them.

“Oh, it's all right. That's part of our new design. We're repainting it this week,” the woman explained with a cheerful excitement. “Trying to bring a little bit of modern touch to this old place. Draw in the modern crowds. Math and Science are going here, so we asked a friend to do some fancy calculations that we could paint over. Don't have a clue what any of it means, of course, but we're aiming for a chalkboard look.” She shrugged.

Belle beamed. “Oh, I saw the wall in the back! The uh.. sunset?”

“The cannon.” It didn't sound like a correction, so Rumple could only assume that the wall in question had a fairly obvious theme that contained both elements. “That's history. Mostly about the wars. Was there something I could help you with?”

“Not right now,” Belle said. “But I might stop by again some time to sell some things. Or maybe make an exchange?”

The woman nodded. “Sure we do that. We put the price of whatever you bring in toward your next purchase.”

Belle was about to respond, but found herself interrupted by an excitedly babbling Gideon, who had made his way over to her and was holding up the book he had been studying as he chattered away.

“He's fond of that one,” Rumple told her as he turned to clean up the last of the things he and Gideon had used. “I'll get it for him. I doubt he'll be willing to part with it.” Once he had finished tidying up, he held out his hand and gave his son a bright smile. “Let me pay for it, Gideon. We'll take it with us and your Mum can read it ten more times while I cook our dinner.”

“Is it that good?” Belle scooped Gideon up in her arms and made a great show of studying the book's cover before handing it over to Rumple. “Looks like it's all about woodland animals. Sounds perfect.”

“Our little scholar,” Rumple added as he made his way to the register. “Learning about everything he encounters, just like his mother.”

“You two in town for the convention?” The man at the register asked the question as he began to ring up the sale.

Rumple blinked. “Convention?”

“Star Trek,” he said, which caused a loud groan from the woman.

“Star _gate_ ,” she corrected. 

The man rolled his eyes slightly. “Right. Trek is the one with that chick with the wrinkled nose and all those little orange men.”

She folded her arms over her chest and Rumple could see she was trying not to laugh at the man. “That's _one_ of them, yes.” Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. “Forgive my husband, he's not as into science fiction as I am, but he's right. I hadn't noticed it before, but you've got a great Rush cosplay going on there. All you need is the brown short sleeves over that white shirt. Throw that vest back on and you'd be a dead ringer.”

“Shorter sleeves _over_ the longer ones?” Rumple looked down at his attire, trying to imagine how on earth anyone could feel comfortable in such an odd layering, not only for the sake of comfort, but for the pure visual appeal. How on earth could such an outfit not look ridiculous?

Rumple exchanged a confused look with Belle, who shook her head slightly. “Sorry,” she said through a polite smile. “I don't think either of us are familiar with...”

“Science fiction show,” the husband told her. “They're having a convention in town this weekend. The actors come, people dress up and stuff.” He shrugged, describing the event as if it were something he could either have or let go of and be completely content with either outcome.

“We're more into Renaissance.” Belle answered back so casually that Rumple had to wonder if she had been preparing her answer while the couple bantered. The whole conversation seemed to be drifting over his head at such speeds that he wouldn't be able to catch hold of it if he jumped a mile high. His head bobbed back and forth from Belle to the shop owners and back again as if watching some kind of sporting event.

“Oooh!” The woman actually bounced in place as she reached out to grasp Belle's arm with excitement. “You should go to Medieval Times! It's about thirty minutes from here, but I bet you'd love it!”

“Well, if they're Renaissance enthusiasts, they might not,” the man interjected, then leaned forward as if sharing a secret with Rumple. “It's one of those dinner and a show jousting performance places. Probably a little... tacky, depending on what you're used to.”

“But your kid would love it,” his wife added. 

“If he can sit for two hours,” her husband returned.

She huffed at him and waved her hands in the air as if casting off some spell. “They'll be eating for part of it!”

“Thank you,” Belle said as she shifted Gideon and stepped to the door. “It sounds wonderful.”

Rumple recognized her sudden urgency as one that meant Gideon was about to get cranky from the discomfort of needing a change. He smiled and thanked the man for the book, filing away the jousting tournament as something he might actually want the family to try before they left the Chicago area. He chuckled to himself when he joined Belle outside and they headed for the car. Apparently he could add tacky dinner theater to the list of changes brought about by this particular stop in their journey.

**Author's Note:**

> Why Chicago? The Stargate convention really is there. Maybe about 30 minutes or so from where the Golds went camping. The mall, campground, and surrounding natural area are real. The bookstore is fiction. The jousting thing is also real and they have shows all over the country. So if you want to throw yourself into this fic and see the show, be my guest. I have not been to Medieval Times, but I have been to Tournament of Kings in Vegas, which is a similar idea on a different theme. Since there is a Medieval Times Castle a few hours away from me, I'm hoping to actually go before the Golds do. ;)
> 
> Why did I come back for April? Well, I just left them in the canoe and decided that while I was finishing the canoe scene, I should also have them cook together and fill in all the gaps of the story.


End file.
